Anti-vaccine myths are being promoted by social media bots and Russian trolls, study finds

Malicious characters look to use arguments to divide the American public and exploit them

A worker shows used anti-dengue vaccine Dengvaxia inside a vaccine storage room in Sta. Cruz city, Metro Manila, Philippines December 4, 2017 (Reuters)

Online arguments trying to trick people into believing vaccines are spreading across the internet, according to a new study.

Social media bots and trolls are sowing division by promoting "anti-vaxx" conspiracy theories and other myths, the new research has found.

Experts suggest that the arguments are being used to divide the country as well as to trick them into clicking on malicious links and other attacks.

In the study, researchers examined thousands of tweets sent between July 2014 and September 2017. It found many tweets that were posted by the same bots thought to have been used to influence the 2016 election, as well as marketing and malware bots.

That gives the impression that the US public are arguing over the ethics and safety of vaccines, when opinion is actually far less divided.

"The vast majority of Americans believe vaccines are safe and effective, but looking at Twitter gives the impression that there is a lot of debate. It turns out that many anti-vaccine tweets come from accounts whose provenance is unclear," said David Broniatowski, an assistant professor in GW's School of Engineering and Applied Science.

"These might be bots, human users or 'cyborgs' – hacked accounts that are sometimes taken over by bots. Although it's impossible to know exactly how many tweets were generated by bots and trolls, our findings suggest that a significant portion of the online discourse about vaccines may be generated by malicious actors with a range of hidden agendas."

Many of those posts are being created by "content polluters" who put out tweets in an attempt to spread malicious links and other malware, and mostly send out anti-vaccine tweets.

"Content polluters seem to use anti-vaccine messages as bait to entice their followers to click on advertisements and links to malicious websites," said Sandra Crouse Quinn, a research team member and professor in the School of Public Health at the University of Maryland. "Ironically, content that promotes exposure to biological viruses may also promote exposure to computer viruses."

But tweets are also being posted by trolls and bots who simply hope to create division. They tend to post both positively and negatively, but in all cases with divisive language that helps create anger on both sides.